How to Diversify Your Fitness Routine

How to Diversify Your Fitness Routine

Do you need to diversify your fitness routine? Not only is variety the spice of life, but when it comes to exercise, it can keep your body operating at its best and help you attain better overall health.

There are many reasons why you might want to mix things up with your workouts. To name a few:

It keeps exercise fun. You’re less likely to fall in a rut or lose motivation if you change things up every now and again.

More balance. A diverse fitness routine means that you’ll be firing a variety of muscle groups. You may be overworking certain muscle groups and underworking others if you do the same workout day in and day out.

Increased strength/endurance. By switching up your routine, you’ll be better able to identify the areas where you need to develop more strength and/or endurance. For example, say you’re an avid dancer. Chances are you have plenty of endurance, but not as much strength. If you add some weight lifting to the mix, you’ll improve your strength to balance out your endurance.

Looking for some inspiration for how to take the first steps toward switching up your workouts? Here are four easy ways to diversify your fitness routine.

1. Join the New You Challenge. If you’ve found yourself in a fitness rut, the New You Challenge is the perfect way to enliven your routine. As a challenge participant you will receive instructor led workouts three days per week. The workouts will be varied and will include HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), weights, and other boot camp style exercises. Every muscle will be firing!

But just to clarify, the New You Challenge isn’t just for people who already have an established exercise routine. Even if you haven’t exercised for a long time and feel out of the loop, this challenge is perfect for you. It’s welcoming, set in groups, and led by instructors who want to help you succeed. This fitness challenge is tailored to help individuals meet their goals with the support and accountability that a group setting can offer.

2. Try something new. Are you a yoga fanatic? Maybe it’s time to add some strength training to the mix and begin lifting weights to balance out your flexibility. Is biking your primary source of exercise? It may benefit you to explore another type of exercise that utilizes more of your upper body muscles.

There are so many classes, gyms, and strength training regimes out there that can help diversify your fitness routine. Many gyms and studios offer new student or intro specials so it really can be easy to try something new. So if you’ve been curious about belly dance or kickboxing, what’s holding you back from giving it a try?

3. Play a sport. Playing a sport is a fantastic way to diversify your fitness routine. For one thing, it doesn’t even feel like exercise because it’s fun to play sports. For another, you’ll find yourself using muscles differently than in the average workout. Many sports include dynamic movement and will challenge you in different ways.

Plus, there are so many opportunities to have fun playing sports. Maybe it’s playing softball in the backyard with your kids. Maybe it’s hitting a tennis ball with friends in a local court. In the summer, it might even be a rowdy game of Marco Polo in the pool. There are even urban hipster kickball leagues to check out.

Whether in a group setting or something that is more one on one, sports are a great and fun way to diversify your fitness routine.

4. Learn a Martial Art. If you’re looking for a balanced approach of physical AND mental training then perhaps a martial art is the way to go. Not only will you learn discipline, improve flexibility and strength, but you’ll acquire ancient wisdom passed down through the martial arts culture and learn how to defend yourself.

Most New You Challenge partners are functional fitness (HIIT, Bootcamp or CrossFit) gyms but we also have partners in the martial arts community. If you’ve ever been curious about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Krav Maga, Kickboxing, etc. you should definitely give it a shot. Every discipline is different and every gym is unique but the mental and physical benefits are real and all of our partners have programs friendly to beginners.

5. Take it outdoors. One of the most effective ways to diversify your fitness routine is to change your scenery. If you’re used to running on a treadmill, simply taking your run on the physical road can really change things. The terrain and hills will affect the muscles and activate your body in different ways.

But perhaps even more than the physical differences that going outside brings to your fitness routine, it has a more powerful effect of changing your state of mind. A workout which you’ve gotten tired of will seem new again if you go outside.

So, to review, diversifying your fitness routine can be beneficial in many ways. It can help you break up your routine in a positive way, so that working out never becomes boring. It can also help you attain better balance in your workouts, which boosts overall health. Follow these tips to diversify your fitness routine today and see what a difference it can make!